dull

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Lacking the ability to cut easily

   Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

   • All these knives are dull.
2. 2

   Boring

   Boring; not exciting or interesting.

   • He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.
   • "You are very dull this morning, Sheriff," said the youngest daughter of the house, who, being the baby and pretty, had grown pettishly privileged in speech.
   • But there we were given only the dullest, driest, pemmicanised forms like The Student's Hume, Once I had a hundred pages of The Student's Hume as a holiday task.
3. 3

   Not shiny

   Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

   • Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.
   • a dull fire or lamp;  a dull red or yellow;  a dull mirror
   • A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
4. ›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Not bright or intelligent

      Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.

      • She is not bred so dull but she can learn.
      • dull at classical learning
   2. 5

      Sluggish, listless.

      • This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
      • O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
   3. 6

      Bored, depressed, down.

      • I felt dull all day.
   4. 7

      Cloudy, overcast.

      • It's a dull day.
   5. 8

      Insensible

      Insensible; unfeeling.

      • Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.
   6. 9

      Heavy

      Heavy; lifeless; inert.

      • the dull earth
      • c. 1857', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Table-Talk As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
   7. 10

      Not intense

      Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

      • Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.
   8. 11

      Not clear, muffled. (of a noise or sound)

   9. 12

      To render dull

      To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

      • Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
      • This […] dulled their swords.
   10. 13

       To soften, moderate or blunt

       To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

       • He drinks to dull the pain.
       • Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.
       • Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.
   11. 14

       To lose a sharp edge

       To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

       • A razor will dull with use.
   12. 15

       To render dim or obscure

       To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

   13. 16

       A surname. of Scottish and German origin.

   14. 17

       A village in Perth and Kinross council area, Scotland.

The neighborhood

• synonymdullen
• neighborbedole
• neighborDollard